Mumbai: Equity benchmarks climbed in initial trade on Friday amid a strong rally in the US markets and buying in banking counters. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex rose by 481.94 points to 60,414.18. The broader NSE Nifty advanced by 118.05 points to 17,728.45.
The Sensex had advanced by 224.16 points or 0.38 percent to settle at 59,932.24 on February 2. However, the Nifty had dipped by 5.9 points or 0.03 percent to end at 17,610.40. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) again offloaded shares on February 2 after a day's breather. They sold shares worth Rs 3,065.35 crore, according to exchange data.
From the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Titan, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, HDFC and State Bank of India were among the major winners.
Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, HCL Technologies, Infosys and Nestle were among the laggards.
In Asia, equity markets in Seoul and Tokyo were trading in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower.
Markets in the US ended mostly in the positive territory on February 2.
International oil benchmark Brent crude quoted 0.10 percent lower at USD 82.17 per barrel.
"The ferocious rally of three percent in Nasdaq yesterday is an indication that the market expects a soft landing of the US economy. IT stocks look strong," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
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